Bloodstained Eyes
by faux nostalgia
Summary: [AU?] Let's say we replace the world of spintops into something more extravagant, in an era where packs fight to gain respect. Where Tyson finds it difficult to win all the time, when protecting someone precious is harder than he'd thought. TyHil, OOC.
1. »prologue

—I don't own Beyblade but my own AUs. _this chapter contains critical coarse language and mild sexual contents_

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* * *

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**Bloodstained Eyes**

**Prelude I**

* * *

She was slammed on the gravel ground. Smacked down harsh upon the midst of the gravel earth. Her back twitched and her skull almost cracked as pain rushed through her entire flesh and bones, quivering like tides of the ocean. 

Gasping quietly, she shut her eyes tight and turned her head away from the sky. Pain reentered once more as a blow crashed on her ribs. She screamed, jerk, and tried to struggle.

But her wrists were pressed down hard against the sharp pint-size rocks by hard shoe heels. Veins wanted to scream, wanted to burst at the compression of shoes flattening her wrists.

She screamed nevertheless choked on a sudden handful of pebbles plummeting down her face. The prickly paving stones stroke her nearly wounded pale face like daggers ripping her skin off. She quickly closed her mouth and tried not to swallow the numerous pebbles attempting to go down her throat.

Quickly, she spat them, but was gifted with more from above. Two laughters were heard, depraved and mocking. She tried not to cry as pain rushed through her bones again and again.

And then, she felt it. A hand cupped her left breast. She snapped, opening her mouth wide to let out a shrill shriek, gurgled from the pebbles that spat out.

"_Ugh - _y_ou fuh - ing b - sta - rd_," she growled. "_Le - m - go!_"

The hand went away to slap her cheek brutally. She couldn't see the culprits but she knew who they were.

The rocks jabbed her eyes and she couldn't open them without screaming in pain.

Her skin was blooded, filled with slashes and wounds. But no matter how painful everything was, she didn't stifle a weep.

Instead, she screamed and struggled for her dear life, hoping she wouldn't get killed. This continuous crime disabled her from living freely. The only person who had deceit her was now her moral enemy, attempting to massacre her whenever he could.

She couldn't live in a life like this anymore. She was unable to go out for months, unable to go to school, incapable to go anywhere alone. Yet, despite that she couldn't feel outside anymore, she hated this place.

She hated this world. She hated everything. Everyone.

Most of all, she hated the people she thought she cared. They are traitors and bastards. They are assholes and jackasses. They were gone in her heart. The heart one of them has once filled... and was now left empty forever.

"_Shaddup, slut_," one voice sneered.

A brute thump smacked her right rib. Then her left. Agony screeched through her veins. Anguish shrilled like hell throughout her heart. And hatred covered her compromises against all humanities.

Hundred beatings stroke everywhere. Hundred thrashing that seemed to end forever to her. She muffled and kept her tears, didn't dare cry. No matter how she wanted to, she resisted the sweet temptation of grieve. Not while they were still here, beating her almost to death.

"Are we done yet?" one voice, a raspy one, asked the other.

"No, not yet," the low voice, she recognized as the very traitor to her heart, answered.

The whipping stopped and she could breathe again. She was pulled off the gravel ground on her arms by two strong hands. She groaned, as she forced the strength to stand on foot, half of her body still lying on the land.

Someone touched her chin by their rough fingers. She shut her eyes tightly and tries not to scream at the sore muscles stretching. Her brown hair was messed up and tangled; yet that wasn't what she worried the most.

"Open your eyes, freak," the low voice rasped, his breath so close to her lips.

She made a face and looked away but his fingers grasps her chin tightly that the wound hurt twice as painful. Her closed eyes twitched.

"N - ," she whispered. "Nev - er, ah - ole."

She felt the hands that grip her arms, the only control of her balance, squeeze her veins. She gasped in pain but never opened her eyes to see the two untrustworthy faces.

"Won't you look at me, Romi?" the low voice became soft and warm.

_Don't call me that._

She merely spat, almost laughing.

"Still trying to s - c - crew people with that ugly voice of yours?" she groaned slowly, smiling a little, "how s - ahd."

A hard smack rapped her left cheek. She flinched but didn't scream. No matter how much her body wanted to shrill in agony, no matter how much suffering she wanted to cry… she didn't. This wasn't the best time to reveal true emotions. Especially in front of these people.

"Bitch," the boy snarled threateningly. "Honto, do what you want. I don't give a shit 'bout this whore no more. I'm going."

The boy behind her chuckled with glee. She opened her eyes a bit to see one boy leaving. She groaned but laughed. The grip on her arms were getting firm but it was no distraction to her when she started giggling. Her laughter was high-pitched.

"Hey... co - ard," she whispered loudly. "Ruh - ing 'way fhom me, now, huh?"

Through her severely blurred sight, the boy's head turned to look at her. There was no mistaken the hatred glare he gave her, no matter how blind she was.

He had never been so cruel to her.

He had never done this.

But now he had.

And it hurt her. Especially her heart.

To think he had discovered two things in one day, too. Two terrible things in just one day. And this would never be forgotten.

"Fuck you, bitch," he spat coolly. "And if you ever pull a stunt like that to me ever again, I'll do _worse_ than beat you up, freak."

_Freak. _

_Slut. _

_Bitch. _

_Whore._

None of those even went through her heart. None of those was strong enough to make her break down. They were just words. Words ought to be harsh and hurtful. Harsh words that tend to twinge your heart and weaken your pride.

No. Those words were just sheer blood dripping on her skin. And they'll be cleaned off anyhow. They were nothing to her. Nothing.

"Say wha you wah. N - none of those cr - p are ugh- nough to break me. _None of those_."

Through her hazed vision, the boy begins to walk towards her. Somehow, her heart thudded faster but at the same time her mouth revealed a chuckle.

"I don't have to say what I think you are," he spewed angrily. "And, hell, no crap ever come through that 'heart' of yours because you ain't _like us all_."

_You ain't like us all_.

He was right.

She isn't like them at all.

To finish it off, he grabbed her face and bestowed her a hard painful kiss. She struggled away but was too weak against the hold. All she could do was wait until the boy pulled away. As expected, the boy pushed her head away and gave her a severe smack on the bloodied cheeks.

"_Asshole_," she whispered angrily, throat hurting.

"Yeah, that's right," the boy sneered. "Even _your_ words can't hurt _me_. They're nothing but"—he slid one finger on a bloodied slash that stroke her left cheek, and let go, blood on his own finger—"blood on your skin. Nobody cares what you say, whore. Leave us alone. You're not like us. You're nothing like us."

She glared at him, eyes burning fiercely.

"Let her go, Honto," the boy ordered the one that held her tight. "Let's just go."

Honto let the girl drop and joined beside him.

"What should we do with her, Kumo?" Honto asked.

Kumo spat on the ground.

"Nothing," he answered. "Just leave her there. If she tells on us, she's dead."

He kicked the girl.

"Hear that, Romi?" he screamed. "If you tell on us, _you're dead_. I'll slit your throat like I'll do to your heart. And watch out, Romi, you _will_ die. No matter what. Without regret. Oh, and you know what? Who ever said you have a heart are just fools. _Like you got any_. I've said it... but, hey, I was just foolin' ya. Laters, sweetheart."

She waited until silence covered her whole surrounding. Waited until they were gone from this place. Form her world. From her heart.

_Traitor_, she thought.

"Traitor," she managed to sit up but managed to fall back down.

"_Help_," she whispered. "_Please help me._"

_Help me get my life back. _

Her body felt numb. Her bones were weakening. Her whole spirit was weakening. Her whole feelings were weakening. And her whole confidence in everything about anything faded like a fog through the wind.

There was nothing left for her. Nothing but darkness and fate and betrayal. Nothing but her life being torn away from someone she thought she loved.

"Help me," she whispered once more. "Please… help me live."

"_Hiromi!_"

Someone screamed from behind. She heard people running. She heard people murmuring with panic. Most of all, she could hear her mother's faint screaming. She was so close yet her voice was so far away from Hiromi.

"_R - Romi!"  
_

Hiromi smiled meekly.

_Please live_, she told herself, _live to see everything. Please live and…_

She closed her eyes and sighed heavily.

_Get away from everything. From everyone._

_

* * *

_

Blossoms had bloomed one season ago. Flowers and trees and the sky were striking and fresh. The grasses were lush green and the lake was clear and sparkling.

The city was beautiful one season ago. Flowers crossed the edges of the sidewalks and trees were bright green. Even the city's fields and open prairie were scenic and boundless.

The sky was always blue and the clouds were always transparent. But those were a season ago.

The trees were stripped and the air was colder. Everything appeared to be dead, even the city. Though the conurbation was always busy, there were some times that it was deserted and silent.

She loved the silence and the emptiness. She adored everything about it. Even though summer was just like it, she adored summer, mostly winter.

She watched the beautiful golden afternoon from a large hill in the middle of a meadow far beyond the ocean. She stood on a cliff, near the sea, a cliff close to her home, far away from the loud city. But today would be her last day with silence.

The wind sung louder, flew harder. Her hair shifted wildly and her face was smacked with every forever inch of breeze. She moaned with chilliness and hugged her chest. Above her, the golden skies turned navy blue.

Hands behind her, she gazed willingly into the ocean, desiring to feel its coldness, its warmth. Her chocolate hair flung forward. She sighed.

"_Goodbye_," she whispered and turned around to meet her okasaan.

"Hurry up," her mother urged her. "Moving time's coming soon. Make sure you dress properly! We're off to the next city!"

She smiled.

_See you soon… Kumo… kun. _

She walked off the cliff and joined her mother back to her house, face expressionless.


	2. »chapter one

—_I don't own Beyblade. _

Caution: coarse language and violence

* * *

**Bloodstained Eyes**

**  
Prelude II**

* * *

"Hey**—**_fuck off_." 

The scent of an upcoming fight emerged somewhere behind the school grounds, where it was vacant and silent. With reasons hardly said and actions desired to be done, trouble was on its way.

It was barely afternoon, yet these behaviors were already being done. There was a moment pause between two different groups, one larger than the other, one none angrier than the other. For a start of the week, things had been pretty rough for the larger group.

The navy blue-haired boy shoved his friend away from him, whom was striving to get them out of this mess. It wasn't his friend's fault. It was the blue-haired and his opponent that started all this from the beginning. Still, his friend tried again.

"_Takao_. I don't think…"

The blue-haired glared at him.

"What're you talking about? _They_ started this first."

The other boy behind the blue-haired stepped in front of him, his gray-lilac hair tousled in anger with the wind, glaring back at the blue-haired.

"_This isn't the time_," he growled lowly for him to only hear. "_Nor the place_."

Unfortunately, the other group heard it. The said name growled and pushed the gray-lilac-haired boy aside, muttering the words once more under his breath; "I said '_hey—_ **_fuck off'_**. When I say that, there's no kiddin' 'round in my voice, isn't there? So just do as I say_."_

Sure it may sound threatening but he didn't intend to be so angry. He hadn't been this furious for the last couple of weeks, which were conveniently a record to him. He was and wasn't literally one who liked to commence a disruptive behavior in school grounds, although he'd been caught several times doing so before.

It wasn't his fault he was always a troublemaker. To him, he just wanted to settle down each and every fight he crossed. And if he could stop a fight by fighting back, it was all that he could do. And this was just one of those that tempted him to fight over to end.

A boy of glossy raven hair shook a head with dissatisfaction. He knew what was going to happen. Takao wasn't a violent boy, nor was he one you call tame. He was like a person standing between the life of undomesticated and domesticated (although most of the time he was just a plain and lazy neanderthal...). No matter what the outcome of something that could send Takao to the principal (again), he was willing to agreeably join something that shouldn't have been happening.

"If you wanna fight I suggest you do that before your lunch time's over," Takao's opponent sneered. The dark browned rumpled-haired smiled. "But if that's what you want, I'll be glad to send you to the hospital."

Takao smirked.

"You're right. Lunch is nowhere _near_ over," he replied, "and I suggest you guys run off before this five-against-three starts."

"I'm not sure I should be in this one, you guys," a muffled voice mumbled from behind.

"Just stay where you are, Kenny," Takao growled, still glaring at his corrival. "You're not going anywhere. You'll be our witness today."

"_Again?_"

Kai flared a gaze at the three rivals. He was ready to help Takao whenever he wanted but he wasn't convinced this was going to be a promising fights.

He wasn't a bad guy, nor could you think of him as a good guy. A boy like him tended to keep any mood lasting for a long whole day. And being pissed off was nothing to be made fun of. Even _he_ knew that, despite ignoring it.

The air became humid, the autumn morning turning warm of skirmish. Many students would love to see the buffet between Takao and the others but it was better to stay out of the schoolyard, if they knew what was in their stakes.

Noises from the other side of the school were heard in this devoid place, only the blasphemes of the blue-haired and the dark-brown haired.

"You came all the way here just to fight with kids younger than you?" Takao tried to sound absurd. "What kind of an idiot _are you_?"

A red-haired boy stepped beside the dark-brown haired boy.

"We came here for a good cost and a good reason. None that's in you're business," he replied flatly. "If you, children, just step out and let us handle our own problem, then we're all good."

"Fat chance, losers," Takao spat. "I'm not going nowhere when I fight. I'll end this crap you're doing right now—_whatever_ it is—even if I have to deal with all of you myself."

The third rival grinned and curled a fist. His faint black hair wildly dancing in the air as so did all of them.

"What do you say," he asked the brown-haired amiably. "Should we?"

Takao grinned and stifled a chuckle in his throat.

"Not scared, I hope?"

"If they aren't looking for a fight, I think we should just leave them alone," Max muttered behind his ears.

Takao shot him a death glare that could kill anyone.

No, he wasn't just going to walk away from something he needed to find out, nor would he let his enemy walk away from something he wanted to happen.

He needed to know what their business in his school was; or else he would attack them in surprise. He wasn't going to let some thug mafia that came all the way from the other side of Tokyo trespass his area without reasons. And seeing that they wouldn't tell him, his instinct drove him through anger.

"Buddy, I ask you something that anyone can answer," Takao began, "and you don't say anything, and that leaves me no choice but to kick you outta here."

The brown-haired laughed.

"You're talking to the wrong person," he replied amorally. "You aren't the type to beat me in a fight."

Takao narrowed his eyes, a grin ebbing his lips, his shadowed face brightening up a bit. His cap tightly placed on his head before he could do something that would make it fall off.

"Wanna bet?" he challenged.

* * *

It wasn't something he expected. It wasn't a fight he was expecting to be. A pretty short and harsh conflict it had been, it ended with no winner. No winners... yet no losers. 

Before he could lay another solid punch on his rival, or anyone else lay a blow on each other, they were abruptly stopped by four strangers, another group that appeared to be in their twenties as well as his rivals.

It was all too sudden but the brown-haired, who appeared to be the headman, quickly stopped the fight, swift into grabbing Takao's flying fist in the air with a mere palm. The brown-haired boy growled and glared at the four boys standing far behind them, their faces disappointed.

The blood trickled down the corner of Takao's lips, forcing him to quickly wipe it away, his fingerless black gloves already stained. He turned to look over his opponent's shoulder, to see a group of dark shadowed figures standing underneath the shade of a cherry blossom tree, their faces shadowed. Their eyes glowed like cats, a look of failure and displeasure emitting out of them.

Even Kai and Rei stopped their own doings to stare upon the strangers that halted their collision. Kai spat blood out of his mouth, his gray eyes perplexed. Rei, on the other hand, looked clean and bracing, his strange abilities aiding him with his fight. Max had to conceal himself with Kenny behind a large trash, quickly trying to make sure there weren't anyone to witnessed the fight.

The scent of sudden fight that had emerged out of them was quickly wasted away as a new group entered the clearing, possibly a back up for Takao's newfound enemies. With reasons that had hardly been known and actions already cleared to their mind, they fought well yet not enough. It was what Takao thought so, before he was disrupted.

He hated it when something like this happened. Every several fights he'd came upon into, were always interrupted by someone in the middle of the action, always able to have one group run away nor break off the fight. He hated that. It only meant weakness and stupidity. He hated it, having to be broken off something he wanted to end so badly. He wasn't stupid, no.

Although he would fight until his skin was bruised and bloody, he knew when and where it should start and end. And this was something he sought to end today.

Growling, he glared at the four strangers standing a few feet away from the fighting group.

"Who the fuck are _you_?" he spat.

They ignored him. Instead, they turned to look at Takao's opponent with shaking heads that said 'no'.

"Not here, Kumo-sama."

_Kumo-sama?_

Takao glared at his rival with frowning brows.

"Are they too stupid enough to call you their lord?" he chuckled dryly. "Man, you are one twisted son of a—"

As if never hearing him, the brown-haired, Kumo, simply raise a foot and quickly stroke Takao on the stomach, the sound of pain etching out of the blue-haired boy's mouth.

"_Just shut the hell up already, kid_."

Like a sandbag, Takao fell on his rear with a thud, his cap falling off, blood once more dripping out of his lips.

Kumo turned to look at the new group.

"What do you mean '_not here'_?" he spat angrily.

One of the interlopers nodded humbly.

"Sorry, boss. But she ain't here."

Kumo snarled angrily. Without any hesitation, he turned around to disdain at Takao, his face crunched with so much anger and hatred. He walked up to him and grabbed him by the neck.

"You got lucky this time, little kid," he murmured. "I guess I won't be seeing you in a long while."

With one swing, he threw Takao back to the ground, turning around and walking away, his other group following suit.

"_Fuck," _his snarls were heard evidently_. "_We came here for _fucking nothing!__ Fuck!_ I'll kill her, I swear to Hell I'll _kill_ her!"

* * *

As always, it wasn't a fight he expected. The awkward silence after his opponent's departure was hard to break. Quietly, Rei went over to the silent boy and helped him up. 

"Y'okay?" the humanoid-cat asked.

His friend didn't respond nor offered Rei's help. Instead, Takao quietly stood up, cringing as his right temple throbbed pulsingly. He silently picked up his cap and placed it back on his head. Abruptly shoving the hand that lay on his shoulder, he walked away, no time to make chitchat with his friends.

Max and Kenny came out behind the large trash bin when Kai motioned them to. The golden-haired watched the hushed Takao, a worry declining his features. Of course, they were used to this, having Takao like this after an interrupted fight.

It was best not to talk to him for a while before he explodes from one of his silenced anger.

Max came beside Rei as well as Kai and Kenny, whom was still carrying his laptop in his side. Turning his head to the other way, Kai gazed at the street where the two groups had disappeared. He watched Takao disappear as he turned to a left back inside the school building.

"How long do you thing he'll last?" Rei asked.

"Give it a day or so," Max replied, quite sure of himself. "What do you think, Kai?"

Kai huffed and crossed his arms quietly.

"I'd say give him two hours," he muttered and walked away, following the path where Takao had taken.

"Two hours? That's a bit quick, don't you think?" Kenny questioned.

The absence of both Kai and Takao left Rei and Max off to their own events, carrying on with going to a sushi place for lunch before this had even happened. Kenny, of course, was left to chase down after Kai and or Takao instead.

The morning of a once glorious day manifested into something so inexplicable and unaccustomed. The sight of the clear blue sky would soon turn into a golden afternoon, where school would end and a bizarre day would pass by. Sights of strangers would become forgotten and conflicts would soon be left alone and clog in by other things more important.

* * *

It was a dreary autumn bleak. The afternoon sky appeared as if it would rain bloody waters, as well as the clouds beginning to deform into a golden bleeding source of atmosphere. 

It didn't matter what kind of weather emerged within the days. It didn't really matter to her if the daylight turned dark, if darkness may revolve to brightness.

She didn't know where they were, or even remembered, or even cared. The moving vehicles stopped after a three or four hour drive on the other side of Tokyo. Behind sleepy eyelids, and yawning lips, they had came to a halt beside what seemed to be their new home.

Hiromi merely stifled a tear-stricken yawn and sighed helplessly. She got out of Maachinai-san's van and sluggishly stepped out of the vehicle. She was too tired, too weary to burden anything.

She took one glance at her new home and quickly turned around to walk on the other side of the van, leaning back as well as relaxing by her self.

"Hiromi-chan? How do you find the house, dear?" Maachinai asked from the other side.

She shrugged casually; knowing that Maachinai couldn't see it. Her chocolate locks flew high in the air, as the breeze descended up high up the sky, her skirt dancing, her shirt moving in directions. She placed her hands behind her and a vacant look streaked her face; her eyes lifeless only blinked once.

_It doesn't matter. Everywhere I go… it's always the same. _


	3. »chapter two

—I don't own Beyblade. 

caution: major cursing and assaulting

* * *

**Character Bios**

Kinomiya Takao  
Same ol' boy. . . just take off the Beyblade obsession and replace it with fighting then you got yourself a really, really cute Tyson who'll fight to win (or.. is it.. protect? XD)

Tachibana Hiromi  
I don't know. . . I guess she's a little bitchy in a couple of chapters but, hey, blame it on what happened x.X! I promise to make her look more of the main female protagonist! I swear!

* * *

**Bloodstained Eyes**

**  
Prelude III**

* * *

"Oh, ow... ow... ow, ow, owww—_dammit all!"_

The echoing of such phrases Takao had screamed oh-so-_intently_ deafening… the whole class froze to their seats, too late to cover their decaying ears from the earsplitting utterance their mischief classmate had bellowed. All eyes turned to gawk at Takao, whom had jumped out of his lab chair and sucked a thumb into his mouth.

A nervous science lab partner, Max—trying to sit him back down his chair—chuckled nervously. He grabbed Takao by his lab coat and roughly pulled him to his stool, smacking him tensely in the head.

"_Takao!_" he mumbled loudly. "For the _hundredth_ times, what did we talk about swearing so loud in class!"

Takao ignored him, still suckling on his right thumb insanely. In the midst of their dissection in science class, Takao had inadvertently, yet nearly _brutally_, sliced the side of his right thumb all the way down the webbed skin that joined his other fingers. And out of no where, his uncontrolled tongue liberated out of his mouth.

The furious teacher immediately walked towards the one whom shrieked such declaration and slammed Max and Takao's laboratory bench with her white-gloved hands, a hint of decisive hundred angry veins popping out of her forehead. Everyone progressed in silence. The only noise left was the hushed pissed off mumbles Takao ground out of his clenched teeth, as though he had never noticed the teacher.

"_KINOMIYA TAKAO! HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS CONVERSATION!_"

As if merely figuring out that his teacher stood beside him, Takao look in blanched startle yet suckled his thumb harmlessly.

"But I—"

"NO _BUTS_! Every _single_ lab activities, you end up swearing like nobody can hear you in this little space! I won't have this thing going on like this _anymore_ every class, do you hear me? You're setting bad examples to these poor students."

("Hey!" / "We're old enough to know every swear words there is!" murmured the class)

Takao simply smiled and nodded, but retained his thumb inside his mouth. Following that, their lab teacher, Mrs. Shodie, motioned Max forward to her desk for first-aid kit. Nodding, Max followed the teacher, quietly placing the small knife on the tray where they operated a cow heart (despite Takao's complaint and whined about why they had to do such disgusting thing since he preferred mixing chemicals instead of touching some weird animal's private parts).

_At least he still isn't pissed off after that fight_, he mused silently. _I better give Kai his stake money for guessing so right. _

After a few complaints and screams, Max was able to cloak his friend's bleeding (yet almost wrinkled from his suckling) thumb with a long white bandage.

"Sometimes I wonder just when you can _actually_ shut up in one decent class," Max told the other boy.

Takao shot him his glare but made a face after the blond finished wrapping his wound.

"But it really did _hurt_," he whined, child-like as he is, mood swing ticking up. "What else was I suppose to do when I get my finger sliced _halfway_ off! Just sit there and go '_oh, poo. I'm bleeding again. Oh well_"! And I should _sit_ on my stool and do _NOTHING_?"

"Kinomiya! One more and you will be in detention for five months! Again!"

Rolling his eyes and slowly going back to his work, Takao waved a healthy hand defensively at the teacher.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll stay calm for your, Max's, and everyone else's sake," he sighed after adding a very soft, "Damn science shit. Damn animal parts. If I sit here on my ass yelling nothing, I'm gonna—"

"I'm sorry? I didn't get your last sentences," Mrs. Shodie raised an eyebrow quizzically.

Grumbling softly, Takao shrugged and continued back to his work.

…_Explode_, he finished quietly, attempting with his every might not to gag as his wounded hand accidentally stabbed the heart on the wrong spot, sending a small burst of white liquid oozing out down the tray. He choked and shivered with disgust. Max chuckled nervously at him as he handed the sickened boy a towel to cleansed the ooze that jumped on his cheek.

* * *

They were truly gone. 

The strangers he and his friends were forcefully set up on fighting (thanks to Takao's stupid actions and mouth) had completely disappeared. Rei didn't bother going through his next class, playing hooky and determined to follow those intruders. Besides, physics wasn't his thing.

He was a strange being, yes. Everyone knew him as the sly cat boy, who grew up in a town much smaller than this city he now subsided in. He had a knack for finding someone with their scent and he had a skill much further than those who were very athletic. Physical Education was, nonetheless, his best preferred subject.

Quickly leaping off the school's roof and onto a nearby building, Rei moved his head from left to right, slightly sniffing the air as his strangely distinct sharp eyes stalked around him. The long white bandaged ponytail that scoped down his ankles swung like a cat's tail, his odd infrequently pointed ears trying to listen.

It was impossible hence the occupied noises of vehicles and people walking by. Mumbling frustratedly to himself, he picked an ear with his finger, massaging his sore ears.

_Now where could those gangs gone off to? …Ah, there they are. _

He found them, halfway reaching midway a mile away to his right. Leaping nonchalantly, he jumped unto building to building, and jumped unto the ground, gliding towards a dark alley the gang had just passed. Poking his head into the back of their view, he intently listened to their conversations.

"_Bullshit_," was the first word heard. "I swear she ran off to this place."

"How can you be sure? She could be anywhere and we don—"

The boy who had fought against Takao pushed the speaker to the ground hard and growled.

"Shut yer trap, ass," he snarled. "I followed her after that _incident_, you idiot, and I heard her mother tell her."

"Did she say anything about where they were heading?" another asked.

The brown-haired boy hesitated, possibly thinking hard, and crossed his arms.

"I think I'm smart enough to figure that out," he muttered. "I heard the bitch say something about Daikaru and I know that school's called Daikaru."

"But… we still aren't sure if it—"

"So… you're calling me stupid then."

It sounded like a firm statement, instead of a question. The way he spoke sent a strange tremor of cautious down Rei's spine.

"N—No. Of course not. I'm just saying that we should try and track down her—"

"If I say we stay here, _we stay here_. If anyone wants to object to that and die right in front of me by my bare hands, say so and I _will_ do that."

Nobody spoke.

Rei narrowed his eyes. Who were these people and why were they after someone, despite, a female? They didn't just came to his school to pick a fight with anyone and possibly kill them. They came to kill just one certain person. And that certain person was likely a girl.

"Hurry up and walk faster, you idiots. And if any of you jackasses get drunk again and spill this shit out, you'll suffer more than a broken bone like last time."

"D—Don't worry, Kumo. We can take care of this. And we'll take care of anyone else who finds out."

"Are you sure about that?"

_Oh. Crud.  
_

Rei pulled his head out and quickly jumped on top of the building, alarmed.

The boy with brown hair, Kumo, quickly turned around behind him and glared at the space where Rei's head once poked out.

_How did he know I was here? _

He was sure he had stealth carefully and hid as sharp as he could. But his senses soon flared and he knew he wasn't safely hidden where he was. Growling out his frustration, Rei turned around and leaped his way unto buildings to buildings, heading back to the school.

_I better tell Kai first. He'll know what to do. _

His disappointment caused him to speed a little, nearly passing his school.

* * *

The door slammed open. She had obviously kicked it open, her hands occupied as they were neatly crossed over her chest. Without saying anything, she headed towards the living room and turned on the TV. 

Another day... another life... same shit... different day.

"Hiromi-chan?" Maachinai's voice came from behind. She moved to sit beside her.

"You're home early… how was school?"

Hiromi shrugged and changed the channel.

"Did you make any friends?"

Hiromi shrugged, changing the channel again.

"Any homework?"

Shrug.

Maachinai frowned and watched the girl's vacant face, a sudden information popping in her head.

"Hiromi… did you go to school today?"

Hiromi turned around and gave the light-brown haired woman a glare and slowly stood up, heading towards the stairs to her room, without a word.

She grabbed the railing and tediously paused for a bit.

"No," she replied as a matter of fact. "I didn't. I didn't feel like it. I'll go tomorrow. If I want to."

Maachinai watched as Hiromi disappeared up the steps and quietly turned to look at her lap. Her ashen face and troubled lips straightened as she firmly gripped on her long skirt.

Finding a job wasn't too hard in this city, she had found three she most likely would love to do. But it wasn't the same without Hiromi's help and she needed it badly, her encouragement.

Hiromi told her once to build a bakery shop, so they could both work together in there and hope that they could save up enough money to travel around the world. She also suggested her to be a model since she was pretty enough to be one, no matter her old age.

And as future crawled by, their dreams began to dissipate, causing their hopes to flow down, making her unsure what to do anymore. Making her confused if she should help Hiromi or let her solve her own problem. She hated herself for choosing the second one.

She was helpless now. She couldn't do anymore. A little angry that Hiromi still hadn't gotten over her incident.

Who wouldn't anyway?

Maachinai tried so hard to make the girl forget whatever happened. She tried so hard to comfort her, to protect her. But now… Hiromi was pushing her so far away. Hiromi was pushing her away from her life, only caring about herself and about nothing else.

"_I don't need you. Step off my life. You've got nothing to do with it and you never will."_

"You don't know how painful those words are, Hiromi-chan," she breathed, "you don't know how much I've tried saving you after what happened."

A tear trickled down her left cheek, and she refused to wipe them away. Ever since Hiromi's occurrence, the girl helplessly cried at night, a very clamorous cry of detest and hatred. When that happened, Maachinai covered her ears so tightly and hope that it would be over soon.

"Oh god..."

It was happening again.

Maachinai quickly covered her ears as Hiromi's desperate angry shriek echoed throughout the house, possibly throughout the neighborhood, scaring her very much. She often cried too, with her, secretly in a place where Hiromi wasn't present.

The girl's desperate scream were tormenting enough.

There would be no dinner tonight. She had lost reliance to even cook herself and Hiromi food, hence they barely ate. It wasn't decease, it wasn't any hunger strike. It was to carry pain and burden. They ate sorrow nearly everyday.

It was hard to break that habit.

Hiromi carried enough burden to herself. Maachinai hated herself. She hated herself, so much. And she sobbed because of it. She sobbed as loudly as she could, not caring whether Hiromi heard her or not, since nobody could match up her frantic scream of revulsion.

"Hiromi," Maachinai cried, pressing her palms stiffly against her ears, focusing on her voice as she could. "When…? WHEN WILL YOU STOP!"

Up the stairs, through her door, and on the bed, she curled up into a ball and continued screaming, ignoring whoever might hear her outside, to only drenching her pillows with tears.

"_I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU ALL!_"


	4. »chapter three

—I don't own Beyblade. Here it is... the revised of chapter three. Enjoy? 

Important Notice: This chapter event happened before Hiromi arrived in her home (See last part of previous chapter) caution:major cursing and assaulting

* * *

**Character Bios**

Kon Rei  
The nicer version of... Inuyasha! Well.. at least he is in my fic...

Hiwatari Kai  
I don't really see any difference... if you do, please tell... I'll change it :D

* * *

**Bloodstained Eyes**

**  
Prelude IV**

* * *

"So... what's your point?" 

**SMACK!**

"You _imbecile,_" Kai barked, hitting Takao's head for the fifth time of the day. The blue-haired boy stifled a cry and rubbed the lumps on his scalp, muttering incoherent cusses under his breath.

"I'm just _saying_," Rei repeated more tediously. "That we aren't dealing with the _normal_ mafias back there. And they weren't just after _anyone_ they see or choose…"

Takao stuffed his cap on his pocket and entwined his arms together across his chest, frowning. Even as he tightened his crossed arms together on his stomach, the pain still hadn't subsided. And he hated it when someone he disliked hit him, no matter how long he met them.

"You're saying those gangs aren't like the bullies that came to our school before," he muttered.

Rei nodded monotonously. Although, he couldn't help raise an eyebrow when Takao huffed exaggeratedly, moving his arms behind his head. Like he didn't give at all. Unseeing, his troubled mouth curved up at the boy's great confidence.

_The fool still has his pride. I sure heck won't be blamed if his pride gets too much of him… again. _

"They _did_ look a little more dangerous than the ones Takao fought before," Max stated.

"Uh, _excuse me_," Kenny mumbled dully, "but I _do_ remember how we _always_ end up joining him. Not only that, Takao's made everyone in the school their savior. And now he's got the whole gangs in the city stalking him 'cause of his self-esteem!"

Takao grinned and smacked Kenny on his back, laughing idiotically. Kenny yelped and staggered, catching his glasses as it nearly fell off his nose.

"Relax, buddy," Takao assured him. "It's not like I always _make_ you fight with me."

"Actually, you _do_," Kenny muttered silently, despite they didn't hear him.

"And if they do come back, we can't do anything but chase them away," Rei told them. "Even if they're older. We can't have any of our classmates in trouble."

Takao chuckled.

"I said RE-LAAAX!" he beamed, in spite of the low threatening growl under his tone. "I can take care of it! And if I can't do it myself… I'll force you guys to help me!"

He laughed again, creating comical glares right at him from his friends.

"That's what you _always_ do," they grumbled in chorus.

Ignoring their overstatement, Takao turned left from a corner. His friends followed his amble.

"So they're gonna come back then, huh," he said, moving his gaze up at the cloud-filled sky. "And they're after one person."

"Yeah."

"Nevertheless, I don't think whoever they're looking for wasn't in school," Kenny pointed out.

"Yet," Kai added quickly. "I bet you they _will_ come back. And whoever they're looking for isn't in school… _yet_."

"So…" Max crammed his hands on his dark emerald jacket pocket. His gazed motioned to Rei, whom was calmly walking on the sturdy metal fence that fissured between the houses and the road. "Did you hear anything about this guy they're after?"

Rei shook his head, bringing up his arms crossed on his chest.

"In fact…" he murmured, but trailed off a bit. "They didn't mentioned anything about a _guy_."

Takao chortled.

"What, you're saying they're after just one person and it's a _girl_?" he asked humorously, scratching the back of his head. "Like... a girl? People with bigger chest and ass than us? Those freaky people that always talk about make-up, nail polish, and _boys_?"

A moment past before Rei answered. No one caught the darkened shadow that streaked his face behind his messy pair of black front hair. Nor did they catch a flustered low gnarl under his breath.

"Actually, they are," he responded. "But I doubt they would describe her as crudely as you just did, Takao."

"That's disgusting!" Kenny cried. "Just who do they think they are!"

"Rapist," Takao answered. "Who knows what they'll do to whoever-girl they're after."

"I don't think they're here to just molest her," Kai exclaimed. "There should be more to it than violating some simple girl."

"What else did you hear, Rei?" Max questioned.

Somehow, whatever Max had said, it irked Rei. He clenched his entwined arms harder and tensed up a bit, moreover continued his trek on the frontier fence. Comparable as to a tiger or a cat, his extensive ponytail swung anxiously behind him.

Utter stillness were his answers, while he concluded his reply into something understandable. A minute passed before he reached the end of the fence, which curved pointedly to the right. Rei frowned and lightly hopped onto the ground beside Max.

"I didn't hear any more," he responded quietly. "But I do know one thing."

"And what's that?" Takao asked, although he didn't care.

If he wanted to fight, he would do it blindly if he wanted. Despite how much stubborn he is and his lack of caring about strength but his own, he was recklessly clever.

And if worse were to come, he was gifted with a talent to figure out a plan in the midst of a careless fight. But it wouldn't really hurt to know one thing or two about his new opponents.

"We aren't dealing with any common gangs," Rei replied. "Trust me, they're pretty slick and sharp."

"And how would you know that?" Kenny asked. "They're just trying to act tough like the others Takao tried to beat."

"The one Takao fought," Rei answered. "He's what I worry most."

"And why is that," Kai murmured.

"He can _detect_ my stealth," was the simple reply, " and he's the first, besides Kai, to notice me stealth my best. But next to Kai… that guy is _sharper_."

Takao spluttered skeptically and gawked at the neko-jin.

"You're kidding me, right?" he exclaimed aloud. "That guy. He _knew_ you were there. And he _noticed_ you?"

Rei nodded resolutely, but shot Takao a glare.

"Don't make it sound like I'm not so smart at keeping myself away," he muttered. "I did my best to stay hidden."

Takao waved his hands defensively.

"I know, I know!" he said. "Jeez, take a chill pill and _relax_, buddy. I'm not saying you're not so sly no more. And it's not like the whole neighborhood knows that their neko-jin boy is losing his talent."

"Yeah," Max patted Rei on the back reassuringly-er, on his heel hence he so high up. "We're with you, Rei. And we'll kick their butt and beat the heck out of them if they think they've got a talent better than yours."

Rei stayed silent, unsure and confused for some reason.

"I guess," he mumbled.

"And don't forget," Takao smirked wickedly, and held out a finger to point to his chest. "_This_ boy gets the first triumph. And my dibs on that jackass that kicked me on the stomach."

"Whatever," Kai muttered. "It's not like you can beat them by your self."

Takao gave a comical glare towards him, he pouted and crossed his arms defensively.

"Remember," Kenny added. "Don't try to get suspended again. You do remember the time you almost got expelled, do you! And you've managed to get me suspended twice! Now I can't focus on getting my A's!"

Takao laughed half-heartedly.

"C'mon, Kenny, my homework-doer," he beamed. "Last time I remembered that you had a C-plus in physics!"

"That was my lowest grade ever, you nut," Kenny argued.

Takao held his hands up behind his head once more and laughed idiotically.

"C-plus is the only highest grade I _ever_ get!"

"'Cause you're _stupid_," Kai told him.

Takao glared at him again.

"What's that?" he asked, leaning towards him with open ears. "At least I never failed a subject… unlike _you_! STUPID! HAHA!"

He pointed a forefinger at Kai and laughed merrily. He received a large smack on his head again, growing a sixth lump on the side of Takao's head.

"Ow! Hey, what the hell was that for, you dumb—"

"Enough!"

Both Takao and Kai halted to their arguments and closed their mouth when Rei and Max stared at them with an odd expression. Takao sighed.

"I guess this isn't a good time to argue with you again," he mumbled.

Kai shrugged.

"It never is," he answered. "And there's no use arguing with a dumbass like you when you can never win."

Takao flared his eyes and leaned towards Kai.

"Could you repeat that again, Hiwatari?" he asked irritably. "That sure is strange coming from a guy who's dumber than me."

"So, you're dumb, too."

"You're dumber."

"No, you are."

"Like _hell_ I'm not!"

"_Enough!_"

Takao and Kai stopped to look at Rei. The neko-jin rolled his eyes and pursed his lips.

"You're both dumb," he told them. "Now, can you two just _shut up_ for a moment? People are staring."

"And Takao," Kenny began. "Weren't you supposed to have guests coming at your place fifteen minutes ago?"

Takao frowned.

"The hell are you talking about—?"

When he checked his wristwatch, he screeched at least ten utter impieties and started running.

"Shit!" he cried. "Sorry, guys, I gotta go! I wasn't supposed to be late! We'll finish our argument tomorrow, Kai, and be prepared!"

Kai watched him turned to his right and when he was out of sight, he huffed a hard breath and rolled his eyes.

"Idiot," he muttered. "It's a wonder how an idiot like him's able to beat so many thug."

"That's our Takao," Rei muttered. "He's _clever_, but not _smart_. If you get what I mean, that is."

"Oh, we _all_ do."

* * *

He didn't know why he lived so far away from his school. It usually took him half an hour to get back to his house but he still had five minutes left and ojiisan was _not_ going to be happy. 

"God_dammit_, old man," he muttered. "If you could've lived your life knowing how to _drive_ a car, I wouldn't have to use my damn legs every week walking and running back and forth from home to school."

He picked up speed, yelling at people in his way to move out or else. He was close to reaching the small bridge that intersected a small riverbank, but he still needed to have a quick turn to the right to reach the grassy lands.

He was in shape, yes. He needed to be in great condition to kick people's butt, although he lacked the eat-less-or-get-fat. He was nothing without food, no matter how many times he ate. He was still muttering incoherent words until he could take a sharp right turn and head straight back to his—

**SMACK!**

He fell on his rear with full impact as he went smack straight into something soft. He groaned in pain and rubbed the pain in his back.

"Oooww," he cried. "That's gonna give me more lumps."

He opened his eyes and realized that he had collided into someone. And as he squinted his eyes, he realized it was a girl.

"Oh. Shit," he murmured. "Uh, sorry 'bout that… err."

He wasn't sure he should call her a _miss_ or a _ma'am_ or _girl_. All of them seemed impolite. Either way, he quickly stood up and reached out a hand towards the fallen girl.

To his surprise, the girl gave him an angry glare, her brows furrowing deep above her long lashes. She didn't get up for a few moments, trying to comb the strands of chocolate hair out of her eyes. She gazed at her short white skirt, now stained the cement dirt. When she tried to brush the dirt away, it didn't came off.

Takao backed away, as he was receive with an even more evil glare. He held out his hands defensively.

"I said sorry!" he protested.

When he held out his hand again for her, she glazed her enraged glare at it and then up at him. Takao frowned when the girl stood up by herself. Again he was stuck if apologizing again could help.

The girl wasn't tall, nor was she short. Likely, she was five inches shorter and looked his age. She rubbed the dirt off her firm black sleeveless top that wrapped her neck and brushed dirt off her pale bare arms.

Takao cleared his throat uncomfortably, scratching his right temple. What was he supposed to do now? All he wanted to do right now was to continue running towards his home and make sure ojiisan wasn't angry for his tardiness. But leaving a girl he had bump hard into was also impolite.

"Listen," he began, "I, uh, need to get going now… so, uh… if you can just—"

Before he could finish, the girl sent him another icy glare, her odd black eyes barely shining. And before long, she silently brushed passed him, not even bothering to say anything. Takao frowned and turned to look over his shoulders.

_How rude_, he mused to himself_. I sure hell would be proud never to see her again. _

In a short time, he regained conscious to reality and began running as fast as he could. By the time he got home, he was scolded by ojiisan, who smacked him hard with both of his hands, giving the boy yet another huge lumps on his head.


	5. »chapter four

—Usually I get so many writer's block trying to continue Bloodstained Eyes and right now, I'm actually gotten the hang of continuing this one! Nothing much happened in the last chapter but I do hope that this chapter will be even more angsty. I don't own Beyblade.

* * *

**Bloodstained Eyes**

**Prelude V**

* * *

It wasn't because she didn't _feel_ like going. It was just that she didn't **_want_** to go. She didn't blame herself or anyone else because of her newly lack of attendance. She didn't blame herself or anyone else that she acted this way, her fresh discovery of careless acts… 

Well… on second thought, she did.

School had started weeks ago and they had arrived in this new home at least last week and she was to attend to her new school the second day they had moved in this place. But she didn't give a shit at all.

Another morning came, ready to spark a new life down the soiled grassy earth. It's not that she was also _lazy_, it's the fact that she didn't want to admit that she had **became** one. Her white window curtain clung untouched on the carpet floor beside her bed, and she wasn't able to put it up around her window yet.

And she should've. The blinding morning light shot through her closed eye like lasers, making her cringe and turn over to her stomach, stuffing her pale face unto her massive feather pillow. She moved her left arms around behind her in search for a cover and realized she had kicked her thick feather blanket off the bed.

Groaning angrily, she turned over to her back and risked her morning facing her ceiling with an arm draped over her forehead, shielding her view from the daybreak light. She blinked a couple of times, trying to reduce her chance of falling back to sleep. A little thought crept up inside her, making her wonder to decide;

_Maybe I **should** go to school…_

The strange terrified feeling that clung to her chest last week had nearly disappeared and the times her heart beat unexpectedly throbbed rapidly were lessening. Furthermore, the feeling of calmness and tranquility seemed to coat over the odd feeling of peril and danger she had always felt after her occurrences.

Without much decisions, and wanting to finally avoid to boredom of doing nothing but wander around this new city she had moved in, Hiromi gradually sat up at the foot of her bed and kicked the soft blanket off her feet's way and kicked them under her bed.

She headed straight to the bathroom, with a towel and her under garments, and lazily remained in the bathroom for at least an hour, disregarded the fact that she was at least two hours late for school.

_At least I'll be going to school_; she scolded herself, and added with a frown as she let the warm shower water drenched her soapy unclothed pale skin, _and make sure Maachinai won't get too upset. Just because I was a smart-ass before doesn't mean I can be one **forever**._

Snorting angrily and turning off the shower, Hiromi stepped off the shower area and grabbed her towel, drying her chocolate hair tediously. She was pleased to have moved into a pretty big three-floored house. Maachinai was not rich, although not yet, but they could easily afford as many things they wanted if needed or wanted greatly.

Sluggishly, she headed straight towards the medicine cabinet and stared at herself in the large mirror. There was a strange stab in her bosom, a stab she often felt every time she was alone or somewhere quiet and isolated. It was a feeling she had first felt after her accident, a feeling she hated so dearly.

Staring at the disheveled form of a pale skinned girl with rumpled moist chestnut locks, strands hugging tightly on her cheeks and shoulders, Hiromi glared at herself, refusing to stare at the pair of things she used for sight.

* * *

_What I want…_

_

* * *

_  
She moved a hand up and brushed the strands of wet hair that clung over her right eyes with frail fingers and glared at her self. She stared at her curves and glared once more.

* * *

_Maachinai and I can get what we want. She can buy what she needs, I can get what I need from her…_

_

* * *

_

The towel she had placed over her head loosely slid off from her back and unto the floor. More strands invaded her sights, but she did nothing about it.

* * *

_But…_

_

* * *

_

She raised her hands up in the air and—

**CRACK**

**

* * *

**

_No one… no one!_

_

* * *

_

She pulled her arms back once more and swung them hard towards the looking glass, creating large cracks from that spot her curled hands had blew. Right where her face, mostly of where her eyes, were reflected.

She didn't cry, only screamed. Maachinai wasn't home, she knew that. The woman must've probably been looking for another job again. Hiromi narrowed her eyes and stared at the reflections of her eyes, which were merely two large cracks shattered like a spider's web, halting at the edges of the frame. She couldn't see her face, and she liked that. She preferred that, much, much better.

* * *

_No one…_

_

* * *

_

Gathering back to her consciousness, Hiromi picked up her towel and wrapped it tightly around her torso. She slowly picked her feet up and headed out the bathroom door, ignoring the act of her careless deed at the mirror, hoping that Maachinai can replaced that large broken mirror… again.

Sighing, she entered her bedroom and headed straight towards her closet, snatching whatever her hands grabbed; a pair of short bleached blue jeans skirt and a pair of long white stockings. She settled for a large white sweater that nearly reached the hems of her skirts, the massive sleeves that were enough to act as her scarf around her neck.

She didn't bother looking at herself in her looking mirror, except for the piece where she needed to put on her black contacts and her bracelets and watch. When she checked the time, she had only fifty minutes left before the school lunch would start. She marched downstairs, and went to the phone counter and called in a cab.

Walking and dressed this fancy for at least half an hour was going to wear out her below-knee white boots. Remembering her white shoulder bag, she marched back upstairs, patient to snatch it, along with her needed books Maachinai had bought her.

* * *

_Everyone's got a wish they want…Everyone's got a desire they desperately need._

_

* * *

_

She quietly waited outside the front porch, sitting on a stool Maachinai had placed outside near the front door, with her pale hands in between her legs. She moved her lowly bowed head to gaze at the sight before her.

Despite that they now lived in Tokyo, their home was built at the grassland side of the city, moreover at the edge where they were near empty grass prairies and areas of woods. She had to admit she was slowly admiring the place they had moved in.

* * *

_Sometimes, a desire can come true… and you call that fortune or a chance of good life. But… sometimes it takes a while to have a wish fulfilled. And I guess patience is one thing it needs to accomplish._

_

* * *

_

The cab arrived soon afterwards. She lazily got up and designated towards the vehicle and told the driver where to go.

"Daikaru?" the driver questioned. "Aren't you a bit late, miss?"

She gave him a glare and gradually turned her head to stare out the window.

"Just drive," she stated.

The driver scowled at her impolite tone and started the vehicle.

* * *

_I think to myself… 'why do people make things so hard on simple little things?'… I answer to myself… 'because.' That's it. _

_I don't really know how to answer that. It's difficult to put it in words. Nor with actions. _

_No one… no one…_

_

* * *

_

Hiromi clenched her fists on her lap and softly place the side of her forehead against the car window, gazing at the city's view with half-lidded eyes. The drive through school was extremely quiet; that she could only hear her heart beat as it blended in with the frantic noises outside the cab vehicle.

* * *

_Maachinai and I can get what we want if it needed really bad. She can get what she wants… of course she can. _

_Maachinai wants to own a bakery shop. I wanted her to own one… _

_We both did. _

_But… what I want… what I really wish… what I really desire the most other than those greedy things other people needed… it's different._

_

* * *

_

She closed her eyes, getting adapted to her contacts for today, and pursed her lips.

* * *

_What I want… no one…__no one…_

_What I want… no one can ever make, give, do, or accomplish to or for me. What I want… even I can't get._

_

* * *

_

The drive through her school was, indeed, silent and uncomfortable.


	6. »chapter five

—I don't own Beyblade. 

**Character Bios**

Mizuhara Max  
No change. Some ol', same ol'...

Kyoujou Kenny  
I don't really know Kenny's last name, so I just used his Japanese name as his last name instead. There really isn't anything to change about him.

* * *

**Bloodstained Eyes**

**  
Prelude VI**

* * *

"Hey… hey, _Kenny_." 

Kenny glared at the blue-haired boy and continued with his work. Hearing Takao huffed out air frustratedly, Kenny ignored his angry actions, and watched him erase whatever it was written in his test paper crazily with the end of his pencil. When the boy sitting beside him turned to look at him again, Kenny quickly went back to his test paper, wildly finishing the last question on the exam paper.

Before Takao could open his mouth, Kenny quickly stood up, ran to the front desk, handing the completed exam to the teacher. Kenny sighed with relief as he went back to his desk and took out other necessary work he needed to finish for Biology. Grinning evilly he watched as Takao turned to his other side and leaned over to Max.

"Hey… hey, Max!"

"Takao, **ssshh!**"

"Is something the matter?" the class biology teacher' s head snapped up to stare at Max and Takao, eyes hidden behind a pair of thick glimmering eyeglass.

Takao laughed nervously.

"Of course not, Mr. Biology-Teacher," he chuckled tensely.

The class laughed whilst the teacher scowled.

"Excuse me," he began. "But I believe this _Mr. Biology-Teacher_ has a name. Would you mind telling me what it is…"—the students did not fail to notice the brown eyes quickly moving down the attendance list on his desk and back up to Takao—"…Mr. Kinomiya?"

Max rolled his eyes when Takao shrugged and quickly shrank back to his chair, trying to hide behind the boy in front of him. He turned to Max, and cupped a hand to one side of his mouth.

"Hey, hey," he whispered. "What's the dude's name again?"

"Takao!" Kenny cried lowly. "You've had him ever since last year! How can you not remember!"

Takao shrugged.

"Beats me," he replied. "I don't really have time to remember boring teachers' names."

"What's that you say?" the teacher piped in, frowning a little.

"Err, nothing, Mr._Tanuki_" Max emphasized the instructor's name to Takao, turning to glare at him comically. "Takao's just asking something about, uhm, question 40."

Takao frowned and idiotically raised an eyebrow at Max.

"I was?" he asked loudly, scratching the back of his neck. "No… I'm not _that _far yet"—he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly—"I wanted to know what the _third_ question was—"

"Hehe," Kenny interrupted. "He's such a **joker**, isn't he?"

Max chuckled alongside him.

"Yeah," he said. "That Takao!"

A few students laughed, leaving a confused Takao by himself, scratching his head quizzically.

_Huh? What's so funny?_ Left his thoughts trailing off as the teacher scowled once again and grabbed what seems to be the attendance paper.

"Very well," Mr. Tanuki began. "We've only started this class half an hour ago with a fifty-questions exam of the science of living organisms and you start off with your stupidity, Mr. Kinomiya, since the start of… last year."

Takao laughed.

"Eh, I didn't know you remembered me that long," he exclaimed unsure and added softly to himself, pouting, "Cuz I don't even remember _you_."

"And you're telling me… you're still on the _third_ question," the teacher stated, tapping his finger on the edge of the paper he held. "Would you mind telling me what's holding you back?"

"He's just kidding, sir," Max answered. "He's not really on the **third**—"

Meanwhile, Kenny leaned over to Takao and looked over his test. He gave the look of daggers.

"Takao!" Kenny exclaimed lowly as he grabbed the blue-haired boy's exam and scanned it. "You haven't even answered any of it!"

"Excuse me?" Mr. Tanuki asked.

Takao looked at Kenny, to Max, to the class, and then at the teacher, closed his eyes, crossed his arms and… shrugged.

"What's the big deal?" he asked. "It's not like my first time to leave an exam blank. And you said this doesn't even count as marks so there ain't no use writing an exam that's so _pointless_."

When the whole class grew quiet, Mr. Tanuki sighed and placed his hands loosely on his face, sliding them down to his chin with a tired I-can't-believe-this look and an I'm-not-a-babysitter pursed look in his lips.

"Very well," he sighed. "Takao Kinomiya… you've managed to stop a 'pointless' exam once more and next time… I will appoint you with a test that _will_ count for the _whole year_. Especially yours, Kinomiya."

_Thank god!_ Takao exhaled with relief and slump down his chair_. I don't know how much more of these useless tests I can take!… not that I've bothered writing on any of them. _

"You really are persuasive and hard-headed," Max told him. "It's no wonder all your teachers can't do anything about you."

"And as for today," Mr. Tanuki began. "I'll finish off reading the attendance list and I don't expect a _word_ coming out of your mouth again, Mr. Kinomiya."

"Yeah, yeah," Takao mumbled and continued off with what he had been doing before the class bell rang.

_How **do** you pass all your classes?_ Kenny mused, staring at a now befallen asleep Takao; cheeks lay over crossed arms on desk.

The names listed on the attendance lists went on for what seemed like five minutes, as the names were still on S. Max succeeded on waking Takao in time for his name called aloud and was able to keep the boy awake by hitting him continuously on the head and back.

Irritated as he was at Max and this Biology class; Takao draped an elbow on the side of the side, placing his chin dully on his palm, glaring at the hazy sight of Mr. Tanuki.

_I hate this class. I should've joined Kai and skipped this one, too. _

Yawning forcefully—and a little bit noisily—Takao stretched his arms and went back to listening to the teacher. Or, at least, _tried_ to listen.

"Hiromi Tachibana?"

No answer.

Mr. Tanuki frowned. The school had gotten a call that this student would be at school sometime last week, and was told so many good things about her. And yet, she still wasn't here.

"Is Hiromi here?"

Takao half-heartedly turned to look behind him, finding a deserted seat from the back. He turned back at the teacher and pulled out his bottom lips lazily.

"Not here," he responded loudly and closed his yes tiredly. "Who the _hell_ is this Tachibana? I have so many damn classes under this chick's name and I've never met anyone whose named—"

"Mr. Kinomiya!" the teacher cried. "If you swear in this class again, I'll have you standing out in the hallway as of yesterday and today's behavior!"

"Oh… oops," Takao chuckled. "I was suppose to _think_ that…"

Mr. Tanuki shot him a look and continued down with his list. He gave the boy a few peers every now and then as he watched Takao yawned continuously, not even bothering to notice how loud he was. After the attendance was finished, the teacher stood up and started on the blackboard, writing about their new assignment.

_Stupid_, Takao told himself, _if Max and Kenny would've shut up I would've still been writing that damn exam and spent the rest of my time sleeping! _

_What time is it, anyway… I'm too tired to look at my watch_. Takao yawned once more and wiped a tear that slid off his right eye. He was about to ask Kenny for the time when the classroom door instantly opened. Seeing as how his had was tilted away from the door's view, he couldn't find the time to turn around and see who it was.

Unfortunately, the principal's voice came somewhere behind his head, and he lazily turned to look at him.

"Sorry to interrupt your class, Mr. Tanuki," the principal's voice boomed. "But I'd like to introduce you to your new student."

Principal Euda strode inside the class with, to Takao's view, a student on his side. Except that, he couldn't see who it was as the person was standing to the side of the principal where the students could not see her. Turning in front of the class, Mr. Euda smiled and held out a hand to more over the boy or girl's shoulder.

And when Takao gotten a full view of the new kid, his discovery told him it was a girl. He squinted his blurry tired eyes and peered sharply at the view in front of him.

"Class, I'd like you to meet your new classmate; Tachibana Hiromi…"

**CRASH!**

Instead, the whole class turned to look at Takao… who had now fallen off his chair, watching the new girl with wide shock eyes.


	7. »chapter six

—I don't own Beyblade... cept this.

* * *

**Bloodstained Eyes**

**Prelude VII**

* * *

**CRASH!**

All eyes, instead, turned to look at Takao, who had fallen off his chair and sat gazing at the new student with stunned eyes.

_Oh, crap!_

He gave a loud groan, both from I-can't-believe-this-is-happening and oh-shit-that-hurts, and rubbed his rear painfully, standing up to seat back to his chair, avoiding eye contact from anyone.

"Could this day get any worse?" he muttered lowly to himself.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Kinomiya?" both teacher and principal asked him.

_Oh right…_

Takao had to remember that he was known by every teachers principal, nurses, school cops, and students in this school. He had received so many treatments from them—especially from ojiisan—at his school behavior and attitude but he had never really gotten a pretty serious punishment since he was (hehe) 'sacred'.

At least that was what Kai and Max told him after he had 'saved' the lives of a few lot of his classmates' ass by thugs and bullies. And, hey, maybe a few more of other kids' puny asses he didn't know.

Principal Euda raised an eyebrow and peered at the blue-haired boy with concerned. _What was Takao getting himself into again?_ He thought to himself.

"Nothing, nothing," Takao answered and propped his chin back onto his palm, staring glumly out the window.

Mr. Tanuki frowned. He had observed this boy, Takao, in class ever since last year. And from what he knew… the boy had never really shown much interest in anything. He had tried to outwit him with exams that were never really marked as grades but all it ever did was twitch his monotony and caused a huge commotion to 'why in hell are we even doing something that's got nothing to do with our grades!'

At least, that's what Takao had reproached, which sent the whole entire class in agreement.

Much to anyone surprise, Principal Euda gripped the new student's shoulder and bent lowly to whisper in her ear, "don't worry about that young man over there. He's just a troublemaker. I suggest that you not involve with any of his activities."

To his surprise, the girl didn't seem to care at all. Shrugging and gripping the handle of her shoulder bag, Hiromi Tachibana politely asked the teacher where she would sit. As soon as she was implied to her new seat, Hiromi gracefully left her spot and sat down behind Takao.

The whole class stayed quiet, a few coughing nervously at the oddity of the girl's facial expression. She glided through the class with such quiet elegance that she moved as if she was in the shadows, crawling humbly at any darkness she could find.

Everyone, except Takao at the least, moved uncomfortably to their seats. Takao merely yawned and continued gazing out the window, often closing his eyes lazily at times.

"So… err… I'd like you all to meet Hiromi Tachibana," Principal Euda cleared his throat. "She had just arrived here in Tokyo… two weeks ago? Yes… a transfer, I believe."

Hiromi quietly nodded, gripping the hem of her white sweater, her hands on her lap. From the front, Takao gave a low groan of lethargy, his face like an old man. He tried not to turn and look behind him.

_Yay_, he thought duskily, _could this day get any more boring**er**. Meaningless exams… now this… chick! _

"Let's just hope it won't get any scarier," he muttered to himself.

"Well, I'm off now," Principal Euda fixed his black tie and cleared his throat once more. He stepped out of the class before turning to look at Takao with whimsical eyes. "I expect you and you're friends to behave well just for today, Kinomiya. I'll see you sometimes today if you get any more trouble. I'm off!"

And he left, leaving Takao huffing out an air angrily.

"I'm not a troublemaker, you clod!" he growled angrily, shaking out a fist.

Mr. Tanuki scowled.

"That's two strikes for you, then," he chided, calmly. "One more and you'll be in the hallways for the rest of your life."

Takao grunted and went back to staring out the window, chin on palm. Max laughed and peered over Takao.

"Hey, I like this teacher," he told the blue-haired. "He actually **knows** how to control you in class!"

Takao shot him a death-glare as the blond laughed evilly.

"Yea, yea," he grumbled. "Shut yer trap, you."

"Well, regardless," Mr. Tanuki began. "Hiromi Tachibana, would you like to tell us anything about yourself?"

"No."

The answer, the coarse hard-hearted reply came out quickly then anyone could even hear it. It was like a reflex, acting out as soon as the teacher's words were finish. The tone of her gruff yet soft voice gave an attention too all that wasn't even paying attention at all. Including Takao.

He snapped his sleepy head up and sluggishly turned to look back at the new kid. Mr. Tanuki observed the new student.

"Pardon?" he asked, quite unsure what she really said.

And from all the way back of the class, behind Takao and beside two girls, Hiromi just stared at the teacher with those black eyes that made him uncomfortable after seeing them yesterday. Hiromi merely stared at the teacher.

"I'm sorry," she replied, her tone strangely odd. "But I said _no_."

Several students cleared their throat. Max and Kenny exchanged glances and Takao simply frowned, trying to put his gaze back out the window, trying so hard to sleep instead of dealing with this weird situation anymore.

And that… was how Takao had his first awkward day before lunch.

* * *

"You really are annoying me." 

Kai glared and snatched the food Takao had jacked from his lunch tray. The greedy bastard growled back and quickly gobbled down what seems to be the last piece of his burger, and smiled. Kai glowered as evilly as he could (more evilly than he looked everyday), gripping his soda can too hard that it burst from his grasp.

Rei yelped beside him and hopped off his seat, barking as the brown stain sank into his white Chinese garments, now ruined.

On the other side of the lunch table just outside the school cafeteria and near the grass field, Max and Kenny chortled and laughed. They peacefully ate their lunch, observing the intense battle going on in front of them.

"Geez, you jerk!" the neko-jin roared.

Kai smacked Takao on the head before Rei smacked him on the back, sending the gray-haired toppling on the ground, punching Takao down with him.

"_This is my best clothes! What did... _" Rei stopped and took a deep breath. "Yelling doesn't help... yelling doesn't help."

"Nothing. But now that you mentioned it, quite a lot." Kai growled and turned to look at Rei, bolstering on his knees and hands, giving him a glare.

"Tell me you _didn't _just _do_ that," he snarled.

Takao grunted and stood up gradually, rubbing his head slowly, and placing his cap back on. Turning to look at Kai and Rei with a pout, he crossed his arms.

"I believe he did," he responded coolly.

Kai turned to glower at him then quickly stood up. Brushing his baggy large black pants, he racked his ashen hair with fingerless-gloved hand and went back to sit on his chair, continuing his lunch. He munched peacefully, ignoring the threatening look Rei and Takao was sending him from behind.

Max sniggered and turned to look at Kenny.

"Isn't it fun watching them?" he asked the brains.

Kenny nodded enthusiastically, biting into his burger.

"And the attention they always have around people," he replied.

Takao scoffed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he admonished with a slightly annoyed brow, twitching up and down.

"And what the hell am I suppose to do now in school with"—Rei grabbed Kai's shoulder and turned him around to show him the bronze blot on his garment where it spread around his abdomen—"**this**, you dolt!"

As a peaceful and calm being, Rei only cussed when needed... or angered. This was just one of those days...

Kai gave him a wicked grin.

"Go wash it then, stupid," he answered calmly. "It's not like it's _permanent_."

"It's soda, cod."

"It's washable."

"What if it's not!"

"Then buy another one."

Rei shot him an incredulous gaze; his golden eyes flickering like a nervous cat. The ponytail behind him flew up as he bent down to answer him with panic, a hint of _fear_ in his voice.

"I can't!" he cried. "Mao-chan bought this for me and she told me it's _one of a kind!_ How the fuck do you expect me to explain to her that I got this… this **big fat** stain on it!"

"Relax," Kai closed his eyes peacefully and grabbed Takao's soda, drinking it slowly, excluding Takao's angry screeches. "It's only a small blotch. She'll forgive you."

Rei gawked at the smoldering stain on his chest, as it slowly spread around to his side. Flexing his sharp nails at him, Rei growled.

"_Small?_" he questioned. "Do you know what Mao-chan _does _when she _sees _this! OR when she's _angry_!"

Kenny laughed.

"Ooh," he cried, smiling. "I remember! The last time you got her upset, she—"

Takao laughed out loud, smacking the table repeatedly, it nearly broke in half.

"She practically _threw _you off that bridge near my house!" he sniggered noisily. "You're lucky that bridge wasn't _that_ big."

Seeing the look on Rei's face stopped him. He marched beside Rei and patted his back.

"Relax, buddy," he assured him. "It's temporary. It'll come off when you wash it. It's not like Mao-chan's gonna grab a sword and shove it down your throat and slit it open and make sure your heart bursts out and have you get…"

He paused, thinking, then smiled.

"Well," he added, "she _might_**—**but don't worry, pal!"

The encouragement Takao had given him before the last statement gave Rei hope, until he said the unthinkable and sent his hopes sliding down rock bottom. Sitting back to his seat, he glumly continued to eat.

A mere minute had passed when all was back to its old life. The crowds that had been staring at the three loudmouths had gone back to eating their own lunches and or playing with their games with others. Kenny and Max completed their meal, whereas to Takao still complained for more food.

On the other hand, Kai had asked Kenny to switch seats with him; else the blue-hair might jack his dessert. Rei, who was gloomily eating his tempura with a glimmer of worry in his golden hawk-like eyes, stayed quiet for the rest of the conversation, talking when necessary.

"So anyways," Takao began, "That damn ojiisan made me sleep outside again. I was _only_ late for a family dinner."

He rolled his eyes and took some of Rei's fries, stuffing them into his mouth.

"Besides," he mumbled. "Only my cousins and aunts came. It's not like _they're_ important."

"We've never met them yet," Max said. "Actually, we've barely met any of your relatives, Takao."

"Psh," Takao huffed. "They aren't important. I barely know them anyways."

"You're a nice relative to have," Kenny told him sarcastically, whilst Takao gave him a 'thanks' in equal humor.

Kai finished his lunch and crossed his arms, closing his eyes. It was a habit he did when he knew there would be nothing to do after whatever he had just done.

"Max told me you have a new student," he spoke.

He opened his eyes in surprised, as Takao groaned before his head fell unto the table with weary.

"Why did you bring _that_ up?" he asked.

"What's wrong with her?" Max asked.

"_Her_?" Kai chided.

"**Her**," Takao stated. "That… that _cruel_ chick I met yesterday. I bumped into her—well, I _ran_ into her—no, **CRASHED** into her. After that, she wouldn't even say sorry after I said sorry to her!"

"What's wrong with that?" Rei mumbled, playing with her empty plate.

Takao gawked at him and opened his eyes really wide, making an odd expression into them.

"She looked at me with… with those freaky black eyes of hers, ok!" he cried. "She looked at me like she was going to _burn_ my ass and _stuff _my throat with _nails and knives_! She was a killer!"

Kenny sighed.

"Don't overdo your imagination, Takao," he breathed exasperatedly. "No one can look at you like that. Except an angry Rei or Mao-chan or Kai, that is."

"You mean _just _Mao-chan," Rei grumbled.

"Well, who cares," Takao grouched. "The girl isn't really important. Besides, it's a **girl**, so I'm not interested. Girls go way down at the bottom of my list."

"And you're number one would be?" Kai questioned, although he knew it already.

Takao beamed, and crossed his arms, chin high in the air.

"That," he answered, "is saving those weak-asses' ass. That's why you guys are with me, eh, eh, eh, right?"

Max chortled.

"We have no choice," he told him. "And for once, I have to admit, you're the only one in this school who's as enthusiastic and uncivilized in this school and it's no fun not knowing anyone who isn't."

Takao shot him a pissed off look.

"Uncivilized," he repeated. "What the hell do you mean by '_uncivilized'_?"

"It means you're the only one we've got whose stupid, idiotic, dumbass, and one that can back us up," Kai coughed.

Takao grinned and smacked the table with enthused.

"Damn right!" he said. "And I'm sure you guys would back me up even if I have to force you all!"

_Didn't he even bothering listening to Kai properly?_ Kenny mused.

"Who knows," Rei piped in slowly, grinning. "I think Takao really needs to put girls as his second number."

Kai, Max, and Kenny snorted. Takao scowled.

"What makes you think I'll ever do that?" he huffed. "Girls aren't important, you know. They're just a bother, and they're odd. And they'll messed up your life… like Rei."

Rei gave him his dangerous-tiger look. Takao moved his hands up defensively.

"It's true!" he cried.

To his surprise, Rei sighed wearily.

"You're _half_ right," he pointed out.

"See?" Takao said. "Like **hell** I'm ever gonna get close to one."

"Who knows," Max told him. "What if you are? I mean, it's been _years _since you've actually talked about a girl."

Takao gave him a look.

"And your point being?" he questioned.

"Here," Max answered, "you always talk about kicking people's ass, you've never ever even talked about a subject that includes a girl—"

"Hey, I did, okay?"

"It doesn't count when you're complaining twenty-four-seven about Mao-chan and Emily-chan chasing you out of the city because you pissed them off," Kai retorted.

Takao rolled his eyes.

"Whatever."

"And here's your chance with… what's the girl's name again?" Rei asked.

"Err…" Max sweatdropped.

"Hey, don't ask me!" Kenny reprimanded. "I was busy with my other schoolwork!"

"It's Tachibana," Takao grumbled. "Or Hiromi… uh… I think it's Hiromi Tachibana—"

Realizing what he had just said, he growled and grabbed the side of his head with his hands, shaking his head violently.

Max chuckled.

"Oh, gross!" Takao cried. "I _remembered! _I actually _remembered_ a _chick's _name!"

He stared at his hands as if they were dirty and let out streams of rivers down his checks dramatically. Kai snarled irritatingly and rolled his eyes.

"I'm off," the gray-haired muttered, standing up and leaving the group with a wearisome face, leaving a mournful Takao and three exasperatedly friends behind.


	8. »chapter seven

—_I don't own Beyblade. _i finally got my net back!  
caution: coarse languages

* * *

**Kinomiya Takao:** 16 years old **Tachibana Hiromi: **16 years old **Hiwatari Kai:** 17 years old **Kon Rei: **17 years old **Kyoujyou Kenny:** 16 years old **Mizuhara Max:** 16 years old

* * *

**Bloodstained Eyes**

**  
Prelude VIII**

**

* * *

**

"UUUNNNHHHHH... yes!"

Takao noisily stretched his arms and legs as he laid comfortably on his bed. The curtains were perfectly drawn together to keep the sunlight out, the door completely closed to keep voices out, and a mountain pile of chocolate bars, potato chips, leftover udon, candies, and other junk food lay on his bedside table, ready to be eaten after his rest.

He craned his neck from side to side. As soon as he was finished his quick exercise, he took off his cap and threw it on top of a large pile of dirty clothes and quickly fell back onto his bed.

With his pajamas ready, and blanket over his chest, Takao smirked.

"Ahhh..." he sighed, "weekend. Time to do my usual stuff!"

With a loud yawn, he closed his eyes and slept.

* * *

He took a huge whiff at the air around him. 

Nothing.

The huge ponytail that hung inside a very tight long white band swung like a feline's gentle motion, agitated and frustrated as he swayed his face from left to right. But he didn't give up.

"Found them yet?" a deep voice grunted from below.

Rei looked down at a very patient(or is it _im_patient?) gray-haired boy, leaning back against the massive tree he was climbing on top of. The gray-haired coolly crossed his arms and closed his eyes, hefting one foot to rest on the bark behind his knees. Unlike Rei, Kai was very patient and calm.

"No," Rei muttered and looked up, searching for another higher fat branch to perch on.

It was difficult when he settled inside the large ball of leaves, unable to creep any higher, especially when it was the best chance to do considering that he and Kai had discovered a very tall tree upon a very large building who, luckily, had a garden of trees aligned at the top of their skyscrapers.

"You sure you still wanna do this?" Kai asked him, casually adding, "seems pointless, if you ask me," under his breathe.

Rei growled with frustration the branch he grabbed on top of him snapped in two. The only thing to do now was claw the whole clump of leaves in front of him to get a better view. But that would only bother his and Kai's presence if they were found out sneaking around buildings, looking for bullies.

_Now if Mao was still here, there won't be a problem with the heavy weight of her pretty light body—or is it there won't be a problem with the lightness of her pretty body against the heavy weight?_ he thought sullenly and sighed. _Sheesh... I get myself confused._

"Yeah, I still wanna do this," Rei spat back.

"I don't see why you bother with other people's problem when it doesn't really involve around our group," Kai stated.

"Because, I'm _curious_," Rei replied.

"You always are. Still seems pointless."

Rei didn't fuss about replying. He was too busy, shoving the pile of leaves in front of him to get a better look at half of Tokyo's view than starting a verbal bitch fight with Kai. Of course… he preferred physical than a stupid spoken argument.

"I'm not going into anyone's business if that's what you mean," the neko-jin objected. He amiably swiped the leaves that tickled his skins and kicked away twigs that tried to scrape his garments.

Luckily... the stain DID came off with washing machine.

"Did I say you were?" Kai pointed out.

"No," Rei replied smugly then added, "but you have your ways to make people believe what they're trying to believe you're making them believe."

Kai snorted.

"And _here I am_, trying to interpret my own language when someone else confuses themselves."

"Right. Just close your mouth and let me inspect. I know they should be somewhere below there…"

"Make sure you aren't seeing ants. Last time your eyes got hazed, you were seeing insects and tiny little things," Kai informed.

"Hey! Shuddup! I never knew that punch had liquor in it!" Rei disputed.

"_Never knew_, my ass. Its smell practically polluted your senses."

Rei twitched his lips.

"Whatever."

"I'm sure it is, Kon," Kai simpered with a grin, "and Mao was there for nothing? You took quite a _little_ drink to get accidentally drunk..." Sarcasm was hard not to ignore.

"It _was_ little, jerk!" Rei began to lour, "it was the smell that got me drunk—it was too strong."

"If you say so."

"Which I did."

"Says the idiot."

Before he could say anything else, Kai glowered and cursed angrily when a large fat twig was pelted solidly on his head.

* * *

"Five goes right there." 

"I know."

"So eight would go... right there then."

"I know that."

"If you estimate, you'd get an odd number with these two numbers..."

"I SAID I know!"

"Hey, Kenny, I think that one's—"

"MAX, I SAID I KNOW!"

Kenny fired Max the deadliest scowl he could ever make in the entire world. Yet being the clueless, innocent boy he was, Max didn't notice it and kept up his most innocent baby face.

Besides... who can even _see_ Kenny's glare through such a super-thick glasses?

Max sighed with defeat and placed his hands behind his head. He got up and took a seat on the riverside floor just ten metres away from a glowering Kenny. He took the opportunity to lie down and look at the sky.

"I'm bored," he murmured, "can you finish your homework faster? I wanna join Rei and Kai... or bug Takao."

"I just started, Max," Kenny implied, "and who'd wanna wake _him_ up?"

"I know, I know."

"Then why'd you choose to company me then if you just wanted to go with the other?" Kenny frowned.

Max smirked.

"I thought you might need help," he replied.

He heard a loud snort behind him.

"Are you kidding me?" Kenny raised a brow, "ME? Need HELP? _Are you kidding me?"_

"Hey... I'm bored. Can you do your homework some other time? It's the weekend. We should all have some fun while it lasts."

"This _is_ my fun," Kenny mumbled.

Max stifled a chortle and looked at Kenny.

"No kidding!" he laughed.

Kenny huffed and took out his tiny laptop.

"I think you can understand me better than anyone would, right?" he asked as he opened the monitor.

The screen flashed green and several windows popped out. Bright emerald thick lines of sound graph appeared at the the lower screen as the lines bounces up and down from a newcomer's voice.

"I dunno... maybe Max's right," a computerized female voice resonated through the speakers with a bit of humour. "If you stick so many words in that big, smart head of yours, Kenny, you'll lose them all at any time."

"Hey! Why are you on his side!"

"See? Dizzi and I are right," Max smiled.

With a chaste chuff, Kenny closed the laptop and grabbed his school books.

"Fine. Thanks a lot, Dizzi!" Kenny pouted, "If you're so bored, you should at least hang out in a different place!."

Closing his eyes and moving a hand up, he waved at Kenny. Without any complaint, he yawned and stood up.

"Kay. See you later," he mumbled with exhaustion. "Watching you work is really tiring."

He left Kenny brooding by himself to head toward the city.

* * *

"It's that school." 

"But we didn't find her there... I don't really think that**—**"

"It's that school."

"But.. Kumo... we can't start jumping onto conclusions**—**"

"_It's that school_."

"Kumo..."

"When I say it's that school, _it is_."

"What if she's**—**"

Anymore declarations were blurred out as the brown haired grabbed the flower vase on the coffee table and hurled it straight towards the opposer's forehead with feral force.

No sound could ever match the noise of fractured head, cracked vase, and the loud thud of body against the wall. The brown haired glared at the rest of his group.

"Any other objections?"

The fifteen watchers backed a little bit and shook their heads. Kumo snorted and slumped back on his chair. He wiped the droplets of blood away from his face and closed his eyes.

"Bastard's been annoying me for weeks," he muttered and craned his neck, "now what kind of best friend is that to contradict what you know is right?"

He turned to look his mess and clicked his tongue.

"Could you throw away that body?" he asked half-heartedly, "I don't want another cracked skull tainting our new rent."

He picked up the remote and turned the TV on. He flipped through the channels, searching around the news. When nothing amused him, he threw the remote over his shoulder and yawned.

_I see_, he mused silently with vacant eyes. _So that's how it is._

"So they forgot already," he muttered, "all the medias are fucked, anyhoo."

_Watch out, Romi. They probably forgot your news but I'm gonna make sure they'll remember you again... through your cracked, bleeding skull._


	9. »chapter eight

—_I don't own Beyblade. _here you go, people! omfg, it took me so many shitload of days to try and come up for the next chapter. And it was PURE HELL I tell you (sob). I hope I did well on this one. Please enjoy! This is for you angry reviewers who's been telling me to update, update, update :) don't worry. . . I haven't bailed out on you guys XD

* * *

**Bloodstained Eyes**

**One—**scarred body and mind

**

* * *

**

_He looked at her with so much hate..._

_His once light brown eyes, was now darkly lit, as if _she _had just shut its brightness off._

_Four cops surrounded him, handcuffing his wrists and telling him to walk straight ahead to the police car._

_Those dark eyes weren't a mistake as she saw them one last time, before she was pulled on a wheel-bed._

_No matter how many aides that came to aid her, she didn't take her eyes off of him._

_Nor could he._

_With a one last stand of appearance, he narrowed his eyes and mouthed something that only she could understand, disappearing inside the screeching sirens of the police car._

"You're dead, Bloody-Eyed Freak."

_Hiromi shut her eyes, trying to acknowledge the pain of her body... rather than the pain in her heart._

* * *

She was trembling again. 

When she opened her eyes as the Saturday afternoon light shone down through the curtains of her bedroom window, pain quickly surfaced all over her body, especially her head.

She was sweating. Like she had just gone through a terrible nightmare come true.

She closed her eyes and took a huge breath, placing her hand onto her chest.

Her heart was beating so fast it was hard to keep it in control.

_Stop it._

Although this happened every time she woke up, she couldn't get used to it. It was as if the thudding of her heart just kept on beating faster and faster every morning.

_Calm down, Hiromi. Calm down._

It usually took her a long time to get herself together. Flashbacks of what happened before still popped in her head, making her feel more nervous and afraid.

She hyper-ventilated for a few minutes before regaining composure to sit up without trembling as much as she did the other morning.

Night after night... she didn't want this. Every time she woke up, it felt like she had just drowned her self deep into a sea of fear, waking up shaking and trembling and all alone.

She couldn't find anything to console her in-securities. If she told Maachinai about it, she would've sent her to the hospital for who knows how many days. Or worse, a therapist.

Again.

Hiromi rested her forehead on bent knees and sighed. If morning sickness were awful, first-day-at-school was even horrible.

Not only was she late, was she even criticized already. She hated private schools, although she had been in it for years, but she had never hated public school as much as she did to her private ones.

Teachers thought she was weird. Students thought she was weirder and the only person who wanted be friend with her were sad loners who wanted anyone to be with them.

She shunned down the popular groups. She glared at the smart ones.

Maybe she, herself, wanted to be those sad loners, too...

"What's wrong with me," she muttered, raking her fingers along her hairline down the bottom of the back of her skull. It was a question. More of a confused statement.

She turned away when sunlight found the side of her face, causing a little head rush from the aftermath of her little incident a few moments ago.

Her first day of school had just ended, as well as the last of of the week, but she didn't feel any better. Week-ends were supposed to be fun. Where you get excited because you get to hang out with your friends more often and go places where school forbids you to go.

The problem was, there were no friends in her life.

Everyone deserted her after finding out the incident, including her own private incident. Friends turned their back towards her and grown-ups made a rumour about how bad she influenced everyone.

They either use her... or pity her.

Either way, she hated them. She hated everyone.

There was a quiet knock on her door, as if not really expecting to be answered.

"Hiromi?" a low voice said, "are you awake?"

Hiromi raised her head and gave a long stretch, standing up to sharply close the curtains properly.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Your breakfast is getting cold," Maachinai told her, her voice a little louder, "I have to go out to tend the bakery shop. Heat up anything that you find in the fridge. If you don't want them, you can go out and eat with your new friends. I left some money on the kitchen counter."

Hiromi rubbed her temples with ache, before letting all those words sink in her mind. Her headache was returning...

"Yeah. Whatever," she answered, "just hurry up and leave."

"Um... are you all right, Hiromi?" Maachinai asked, "you don't sound okay..."

"_Just hurry up and leave!_"

Hiromi grabbed a nearby pillow and threw at the door.

_Leave me alone! I don't want to deal with you first thing in the morning!_

She stood there for five minutes waiting until silence came back alive. And when it did, she walked out of her room and headed towards the bathroom.

She had no idea how she was going to survive her second weekend in Tokyo. She was used to the city but she lived half of her life on a country side. There was no way she could go outside and start asking people to be her friend.

Even if it worked a long time ago, a city was harder to deal with.

Hiromi wasn't surprised to see that Maachinai had renewed the bathroom mirror. She wasn't surprised to find a note saying 'please be careful next time, dear' stuck on the bottom left corner of the looking glass.

She eyed it and ripped it off, crumpling it before chucking it into the garbage.

"I'll hurt myself whenever I want, thanks," she breathed firmly, looking at herself through the mirror. Anywhere her body but the eyes.

_I'll hurt myself whenever I want._

She observed her straight-lined lips and extremely pale face. Her messy hair and frowning brows. Anywhere but the eyes.

She turned the caps on the faucet and let the water flow freely down the sink hole. Just when she was about midway into folding her left sleeves up her elbow, she stopped and stared at her wrist.

An image of shoes pinning down her hands onto a gravel ground ran passed her mind as the very visible line of a thick horizontal scar on her right wrist came into view. She felt a quiver on her left hand, noting that they both have the same scar.

_It's not a dream...!_

She quickly raised the bottom rim of her top and scanned her ribs. She choked when the obvious massive stitch wasn't fading away.

_It's not a dream_, she thought furiously. _Why is it not a dream?_

"Traitor."

The word came out of her mouth before she could register it. She touched her bottom lip with trembling hands and looked right through her eyes on the mirror, watching as tears flowed down her cheeks.

Her eyes widened.

"Traitor... traitor..."

She immediately made herself look like she was when she woke up and turned the faucet off. She headed out of the bathroom and decided to eat outside the whole day.

* * *

**tobecontinued **

* * *

okay, IM STUMPED in this end. I couldn't think because I probably have issues. It's 1:55 in the morning and i'm _frickin _typing real loud. Please flame me whenever you want if this deserves a better revising or else I'll just keep writing the next chapter. Please, _please _enjoy. (faints and sleeps) 


	10. »chapter nine

—_I don't own Beyblade._ revised a little!

* * *

**Bloodstained Eyes**

**Nine**—Black and Blue I

**

* * *

**

When Rei, Kai, Max, Kenny, and Takao entered the class they all had at the same period and the four sat in one group at the back, except for the navy-blue-haired boy, who didn't join them... they knew what was going to happen already.

Takao, who had angrily sent his friends a death glare, before turning around with a 'hmp!' and sat on a seat in front of the class with his arms crossed was pissed off at the start of the week. And if counting the time this had happened, would be quite a few hundreds in the past year.

He knew this incident concerned them not, but he felt better when he was away from the problem. The only thing that whizzed through his brain was, 'mental note: kill them next period. Kill them next period, and spit on their bloody body!' while he dug the blackboard with continuous snares.

Black circles surrounded the bottom of his eyes and whenever he didn't get the Right Sleep, he always looked as if he'd aged a hundred years. His cheeks were puffed with anger. He tried not to look behind him.

"Waking him up was the best idea you ever had, Rei," Max told the raven-head with very much a sarcasm.

"He needed to be," Rei replied, "I almost found that guy, too, and the group has to be informed."

"On a Saturday morning, too," Kenny muttered, "you just had to bother us all in the morning while I was doing my homework alone." He gave a look at Max, who still couldn't read anything through his thick glasses. Instead of feeling hurt, Max happily waved at him and chirped a 'hi!', causing Kenny to give up whining at him.

"One group, one man," the three looked at Kai, who was busy scanning his English textbook.

"That phrase doesn't really mean we'd all be like that all the time," Max complied.

"Don't we always are?" Rei uttered.

"But that doesn't mean you have to wake him up real early," Max responded.

"One in the afternoon, Max," Rei pointed out, "you can't connect breakfast and lunch together when you're having dinner."

"I'd think you'd call that a brunch..." Kenny said.

Rei rolled his eyes and quickly jolted down an answer he saw on his homework sheet. Max quickly looked over what he wrote and frown.

"I thought the answer was like this?" he held out his homework sheet on Rei's table. Without another word, Rei quickly erased what he wrote and copied what Max had. Kenny looked over theirs. He frowned.

"No, no!" he cried, "that's not how they go! You're putting the verbs where the adverbs are supposed to be."

He handed them his homework and watched as they erased their answers with irritation and copied his.

"Next weekend, something real important happens, that's when you call us," Max told Rei as he scribbled on his work.

"But it was--"

"It wasn't when you told us that something important came up last weekend," Max pointed out, "Tyson never really did liked it when you do that."

Rei rolled his eyes a second time and merely kept writing.

"Don't blame me if something important happens next weekend and you all won't be there to witness it."

"You got half of them wrong."

The three looked at Kai, as he scooted back to his seat from leaning over and watching them copy Kenny's work.

Kenny frowned.

"I'm never wrong," he argued.

Kai grabbed his homework and tossed it to them.

"Sometimes," he mumbled, "the quiet, wise, and well-mannered are smarter than any nerd."

"I'm not a nerd!"

"Hey, shut up back there!"

The rest of the students that sat at the back with the four boys looked at Takao with unease as he shot evil looks at all of them. He turned back around, returning to his sulk.

Rei bent down and leaned over towards his friends, cupping a hand to cover Takao's figure.

"Oh, and Kai?" he whispered looking into his dark eyes, "I know waking him at one in the afternoon at weekends are bad... but don't you think you woke him a little too early today?"

The said name snorted.

"I woke the idiot at eight in the morning," he answered, loud enough for everyone to hear (especially to the person he was directing to), "he went back to sleep, so I had the old man dress him up and made me drag the dumbass to school. Just thank me he's actually thirty minutes early in school."

A sixth vein popped out of Takao's forehead, but he endured not looking back and watched classroom door. As if on cue, the door slid open and in walked the new girl with the attitude.

Just like him, her face appeared restless and she looked as if she didn't have a great sleep either. Her steps were sluggishly as she balanced herself before she could fall over and take a nap on the floor. Unconsciously, she took the seat next to him.

He fixed his hat and stared at her, widening his sleepy eyes a bit, else he'd look as if he was glaring at her. The girl's shoulders droop as she let her shoulder bag slide down her arm and onto the floor.

"Bad day ya got, too?" he looked at her.

She looked at him with tired eyes. Clearly, her face was saying 'what do you know'.

"Your friend pushed you off your bed and had your gramps dress while you're in the middle of dreaming and woke up being dragged against the rocky ground?" Takao asked, half humorously... half serious.

She frowned.

"No," she replied, her voice tired and quiet, "just... late night nightmares." She rubbed her temples.

"Nightmare?" Takao rose an eyebrow, "usually, my nightmares are about me on a deserted island with a small package of food. And sometimes, the nightmare really gets going when I'm left in a deserted island with no food at all."

To his surprise, the girl started giggling, hiding her lips behind the back of her hand.

The girl... with the attitude... was laughing.

"You're really weirder than I thought" he frowned.

He wasn't expecting her to laugh at his lame joke. He was practically expecting her to tell him to literally 'fuck off'. Not _laugh_.

She looked at him through black eyes and smiled.

"You're funny," she said. Or at least... she drawled.

Then she grabbed her head with her hands and winced.

"Oww," she mumbled, "my head hurts like hell."

Realization hit Takao. He was just about to reach her when she quickly sat up and looked at him. Suddenly, her eyes widened and her face gave a petrified look that scared Takao himself.

"I... I had a dream," she breathed, with fear, "a dream that I dream everyday and night..."

Takao looked at her with same widened blue eyes.

"What?" His anger ebbed away and all problems seemed to have passed, revolving more on what was going around the girl and him.

"That... that my ex was trying to kill me like he'd been doing before--" then, she shrieked.

She shrieked as loud as she could and hid her face behind her hands, causing Takao to fall off his chair in shock and the other students to stop talking and looked at them.

"He... he what?" Takao regained consciousness and looked at her. "He was... trying to kill you?"

He burrowed his brows again when her shrieks diverted into laughter.

"Y--you!" she gasped between breaths, "you're... you're so easy to fool!"

She held her stomach and face-faulted, laughing on the floor, hiccuping and coughing.

Rei, Kai, Max, and Kenny started looking at him as he stood up and watched the girl giggle like a maniac.

"What did you, Takao?" Rei frowned.

Should he tell him she went to school drunk with a hangover and started fucking around seriousness?

A plan was really needed. Takao widened his eyes and then blinked. He exhaled and shook his head, trying to look mystified. He put his hands up in the air.

"Wow," he gasped, pretending to look stunned, "she actually understood my joke... unbelievable...!"

The girl giggled ever louder.

"Y--you're hilarious!" she panted.

Takao looked at his friend and shrugged.

"See?" he said. "Uh, now excuse me while"--he picked the girl up and took one of her arm around his shoulder to help her balance--"I go try and un-charm her."

Both of them quickly left the room.

"Did you see that?" a student gasped.

"I know!" a girl pouted, "he's actually touched a girl!"

Max, Kenny, Rei snorted, and Kai rolled his eyes.

"Should we go after him?" Max asked.

"Why?" Kenny answered, taking out his laptop. "If you think he'll do something with her, I don't think so."

Max pursed his lips, then smiled.

"Oh, that's right," he laughed, "he doesn't know what boiling pheromones are. I doubt he'd do anything but ask if she has any lunch."

"Wanna bet?" Rei grinned. "Kai, wanna bet?"

Kai looked at him. "A hundred yen."

"That he won't do anything to her?"

"No. A hundred yen. That he will."

The three looked at him with incredulous looks as he stared at them back with his usual grave one. They knew Kai. That he was never wrong.

Kenny only scoffed and betted another hundred yen that Kai was wrong.

* * *

He made sure nobody detected him as he stealth through the crowded hallway and away from the teachers. Nobody'd wanna see him with a girl, who's obviously a drunken maniac and smelled like sake.

You're not even old enough, he told her in his head. He didn't even know girls could drink alcohol.

He made it through the side exit and quickly found a bench outside the grass field. He helped the girl take a seat and took a seat himself on the other side.

He'd seen so many men hammered by drinking, often resulting to fighting or risking doing something really stupid. Most often he'd had to avoid drunk men who wanted to pick a fight with him just because he had crossed their sidewalks, where other million people marched through.

Although trying to avoid them wasn't easy, he'd sometimes let loose his temper and clobber the stupid shit down the ground for trying to mess his bad mood. It wasn't easy avoiding them but it was pretty easy beating them up to a pulp until they learn their lessons.

But women getting drunk?

He made sure to mentally jot down that they laugh for no reason with their annoyingly high-pitched voice, grab onto any people they see on the street (and school...) and who knows what else he might discover today...

The girl was still recovering from laughing, rubbing tears from her eyes with both hands. She snickered a few times after pausing to a serious matter, slapped the table a couple of times from a joke she'd remembered in her head, and catch her breath every once often.

Strange... the tears she had wipe off after finishing laughing was still flowing down like rivers.

He'd never been around girl's this long. They made him uncomfortable because of the way they act around him. He'd had a couple of girls clomp at him like crabs, holding him like a maniac as he limp across the hallway, dragging the whiners with him.

He didn't know anything about them, or what to do when he was near them. He had asked them why they liked a boy like him and, to their ears, it was a love-confession from The Takao Kinomiya. He didn't go to school for a week after that... averting those girl because they wanted to kiss him.

He wanted to say something to the girl but nothing came out of his mouth.

Shit.

This was why girls were on the complete bottom of his list. He was still working halfway to finishing his number one.

"So, uh...?" he asked, when the girl finished crying. "I'm guessin' you got a hangover."

Idiot, he thought, of course she does. Just look at her.

Nearly messy hair, baggy eyes squinting and narrowing from head aches, and sluggish movements.

No shit.

"Wha - appen - ?" she drawled, rubbing her teary eyes. "I - wa - jus - dwinkin - an' - then... wha 'appened?"

"You were in school a few seconds ago," Takao replied, "and, strangely... you laughed at my joke...?"

The girl gave a small smile, but suddenly groan and clutched her head.

"Oww," she moaned, "I dwunk too much. I feel so nosheesh... nosheesh... new... newsheesh... no shoes? No... noshaws" - _nauseas?_ Takao thought - " ... noshoes... nooo--oh screw it."

She heaved a sigh and started to look around the place with a look of curiosity on her face.

"This a pwetty place," she smiled.

It was a sunny day but he felt so uneasy...

He watched as the girl saw her bag on the table and took out something, a book, with the words 'Crap Book' written on the cover.

"Wha's that?" he asked.

The girl gave him an evil smile. She placed the book against her chest and hugged it like like a stuffed bear.

"Cwap Book," she replied.

Takao rolled his eyes.

Duh.

"No... what's in it?"

"Cwap," the girl replied, "I ruwite aw da bah tings tha appened."

_I have no clue what you just said_, he wanted to tell her, but it sounded a little rude. So, he let her continue.

He watched her dawdle on the book, no idea why she was doodling wavy and curved lines that wouldn't lined up above the space lines. She was narrowing her eyes, concentrating on her work, as Takao merely watched her hands move in different ways.

_This is how girl's handwrite? he asked himself, I can't even read a thing!_

Suddenly the girl growled and stuffed the book inside her bag.

"I can' even ruwite!" she mumbled.

Takao made a 'hmm' sound. _You're drunk, duh. That's probably why._

He'd gotten drunk before, but he had never acted this way like the girl did. His body was quite used to it, and he had to keep it secret from the adults that he and his friends drank at such a young age.

Looking at the girl's tiny figure, he'd say she'd be hammered within half a glass of alcohol.

When someone drinks, they were either celebrating, bored, or messing up their life even more. Observing the girl, he was sure she wasn't celebrating last night.

"So," he began, "Tachibana Hiromi... right?"

The girl nodded and placed a cheek on the table with dazed.

"So, Tachibana-san--"

"UGH," the girl grabbed her head with her hands and looked at him with an accusing frown.

"What now?" Takao asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of all the names I have, you just had to call me by that," she groaned.

Takao scratched his cheek.

"... Then... Hiromi-san...?"

"No!"

"Hiromi... chan?"

"No!"

"Hiromi... sama...?"

The girl snorted and started laughing, banging the table with her fists.

"No!" she giggled.

"Err... Hiromi-_psychot_--... err... Hiromi?"

The girl closed her eyes and straightened up, tilting her head up to the sky, as if absorbing his words. Takao had to admit, the girl was silly enough to make him hide a laugh. She exhaled and looked at him.

"Much better, but call be Romi instead" she mumbled.

Takao tilted back, frowned when heat crawled up his neck. He batted the warmth away and looked at her. Subconsciously, his inner mind seemed to chant, 'she's drunk, she's drunk, she's drunk' over and over, making his head spin in a way it never had. He shook them all off and looked at the girl.

"So, Hiromi--"

"Romi."

"Fine! Romi then! Sheesh, you're really an annoying bit--" Takao fought a growl and calmed down, "you... drink?"

"No," she replied.

"Why?"

"Hmm... I didn' wan'a go home," Hiromi yawned, rising her shoulders, "nothin' to eat ah home."

"So... you decided to drink sake instead?"

"I was..." Hiromi hicupped, "mad."

Takao looked at her.

"Why?"

Hiromi closed her eyes.

"Hmm... too much to count..."

"Lemme guess. You're so-called mean streak were just 'cause you were pissed off since Friday?"

Hiromi moved her head a bit.

"Eh?"

"Friday," the navy-haired repeated, "you all gave us a first bad impression, counting second bad impression, too. I mean, I never thought there were girls like you in this universe. I thought they're all, like, 'oh my gosh, I broke my nail!' and 'he's so hot!'"

The girl looked at him, placing her chin on the table.

"Did I really?" she drawled.

"Yeah, you did," Takao replied.

"How bad?"

Takao just looked at her. She read his eyes and closed hers, smiling a small smile.

"That bad, huh?"

The boy nodded and looked at her dull black eyes. He couldn't read them. Strangely, he couldn't even see his reflection on her black eyes. All of a sudden, he was taken aback when her face crunched up into a hurt look and tears flowed at the corner of her eyes, sliding down her cheeks. She pursed her lips as tightly as she could and buried her face on the table top.

Unconsciously, Takao wanted to reach his hand out... but her angry voice snapped him back to reality.

"It wasn't supposed to be like that!"

* * *

to be continued. 


End file.
